Radiohead are suing Lana Del Rey over her song Get Free, which they say is similar to their 1993 hit Creep.
The singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey tweeted about her legal problems with Radiohead this week, when she confirmed the British band were suing her for copyright infringement after they alleged that it copied the melody and chord progression of their song Creep and were asking for 100% of the publishing royalties to her track Get Free.
“It’s true about the lawsuit. Although I know my song wasn’t inspired by Creep, Radiohead feel it was and want 100% of the publishing – I offered up to 40 over the last few months but they will only accept 100. Their lawyers have been relentless, so we will deal with it in court.”
While performing at a concert in Denver, Del Rey said that the lawsuit might result in her song Get Free being removed from all future printings of her album Lust for Life, and apologised to her fans for what may happen soon the song represents her “personal manifesto.”
“I wanted to let you know that regardless of what happens in court, the sentiment I wrote in that song, which was my statement song for the record, [was] my personal manifesto, my motto manifesto,” she told fans.
“I just want to let you know that regardless of what gets taken down off of everything, those sentiments that I wrote, I really am going to strive for them even if that song isn’t on future physical releases of the record.”
Several music copyright experts said that Radiohead may have a case when it comes to suing Del Rey for infringement, while others also suggested that Del Rey’s prior offer of 40 per cent of publishing earnings indicated that she had already consulted music copyright specialists, and may have been attempting to rectify a lawsuit she has been told she can’t win.
Del Rey is the latest in a string of top artists accused of copying.
Ed Sheeran settled out of court with a couple of songwriters because similarities were found between his song Photograph and the Matt Cardle song Amazing, and he also added the writers of TLC’s No Scrubs to the credits of his hit Shape of You.
Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne were added to the credits for Sam Smith’s Stay With Me in 2014, while, back in 2015, Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams were sued by Marvin Gaye’s estate for $7.4m, after it was found that their Blurred Lines was similar to Gaye’s track Got to Give It Up.
Also Radiohead were previously sued over the song Creep by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, who claimed it was similar to their song for the Hollies ‘The Air That I Breathe’ and in the end the pair were added to the song’s credits and share royalties with the band.
Article by Valentina Guidi.
He discovered the gem when he was 12 years old and still has it now, claiming it to be why he fell in love with music. He likes to play disc golf when he's not writing about music. He is a one-of-a-kind individual who is always the first to bust out his air guitar on the dance-floor.
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